- 20 -
section of the Internal Revenue Code provides a definition of the
term “return”.10 In Beard v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 766 (1984),
affd. 793 F.2d 139 (6th Cir. 1986), this Court developed a widely
accepted interpretation of the term. In that case, we stated
that in order to qualify as a return, a document must meet the
following requirements: (1) Purport to be a return; (2) be
executed under penalty of perjury; (3) contain sufficient data to
allow calculation of tax; and (4) represent an honest and
reasonable attempt to satisfy the requirements of the tax law.
Id. at 777; see also Cabirac v. Commissioner, 120 T.C. 163, 169
n.10 (2003). This test combines the principles of two Supreme
Court cases: Germantown Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 309 U.S. 304
(1940), and Zellerbach Paper Co. v. Helvering, 293 U.S. 172
(1934).
In addition to the inconsistency between the purpose of the
filing requirement under the bankruptcy statute and the
proposition that an SFR can constitute a return under that
statute, section 6020 and the requirements set forth in Beard v.
Commissioner, supra, support the determination that SFRs do not
constitute returns within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. sec.
523(a)(1)(B).
10This Court has previously recognized that a return
prepared under sec. 6020(b) might not be considered a return
within the meaning of other sections of the Internal Revenue
Code. Spurlock v. Commissioner, 118 T.C. 155, 161 (2002).
Page: Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011